The taxi has been sitting there, parked in front of the entrance for what could have passed for centuries, idly waiting for the terrified occupant to get out. She'd been frozen there with her hand poised on the handle, eyes locked on the grand, looming doors that seemed to grow larger by the second. The agitated driver tapped his fingers rhythmically on the steering wheel, his eyes on her in the rear view mirror. She didn't notice, of course, as she just couldn't seem to take her eyes off the majestic hospital.

How hard is it to just push open the door? It really shouldn't have been this hard. What was she so afraid of? Jayden was in there. Her baby boy was in there, waiting for her to come in and get him. He might even be afraid, terrified as he wondered where she was. She should be rushing in, not sitting and staring! Move, Alison. Move. She wouldn't budge.

"Hey lady," the gruff voice of the cabbie called, cutting into her thoughts.

"You gettin' out?" After a flustered pause, Alison finally managed to pull herself from her stupor and step out of the taxi. She could almost hear her step as it reverberated through the ground, no doubt sending shockwaves through the hospital. She could just imagine all the doctors, her old colleagues, looking towards the entrance instinctively, expectantly, even. What would she do if someone recognized her? What would Hart do?

She reached up to the worn old Jackals baseball cap and pair of sunglasses she'd managed to steal from the medical center's lost and found. Tugging her ponytail through the back, she once again did a self-check over her looks.

The massive sunglasses and low-billed hat covered the majority of her face, while the blonde hair would definitely throw someone off her trail. She'd also managed to snag an old jacket on her way out of the center that she could use to cover her now torn and bloody top, and she found herself once again pulling the sleeves subconsciously over her arms, making sure all her bruises were covered.

She knew for a fact, though, that she had busted her lip up pretty badly during the accident, so she knew that she really needed to hide the cast and cuts. It would be beyond horrible if someone zeroed in on her injuries and assumed that she was some abused spouse or something. If that happened, it wouldn't take long before the wrong questions started being asked. She just needed to get in there, get Jayden, and get out. She squeezed her fists nervously, letting out a shaky breath.

How was it going to feel being here again, seeing her old life? What if she saw House? She shook that thought away quickly, feeling her heart race jump.

She could not see House.

That would just be…. Unfortunate.

It would be too difficult for her to see the man who had helped create Jayden, the man she couldn't deny she was still pitifully in love with, again. She couldn't handle seeing him once more only to be taken from him yet again. It would just be too much. Going this long without him, without his touch, was heart breaking. It was slowly eating her up inside, driving her to the brink of insanity.

But she knew, she just knew, that if she had the chance to see him once more, to touch him, and then be forced to leave him again…

There was just no way that she would survive that. Her heart could only handle so much, and just being here was almost enough to push her over the edge.

And that is why she had to go in there right now.

Right now.

…..Now.

Why wasn't she moving?

She just remained there a few feet from the entrance, her eyes fixated on that oh-so familiar building. It really hadn't changed at all. Those familiar, sturdy walls surrounded by the gentle cascade of snow. She could see people bustling around through the windows, going about their day utterly unaware of her or of her sad little tale.
Everything was exactly the same, exactly how she'd imagined it thousands of times before.
The world really had moved on without Alison Cameron.

Letting out one slow, reassuring sigh, Alison made her way into the hospital.

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"Paging me during Judge Judy is not the best way to win my affections," House sniped as he limped towards his desperate would-be fellows. Their newest patient, a (future?) astronaut, had somehow managed to escape her room and barricade herself in a conference room. The desperate fellows gave him exasperated looks before one chimed in with,

"She had another episode of Synesthesia. It set off a psychotic attack and now she ran in there and must have jammed something in the handles." House just sighed with annoyance, mumbling,

"So you call me: the guy with one good leg and zero leverage."
Sometimes these kids were just idiots.

"Uh, we break that door down security shows up and her name goes in a file." House just sighed, running his hand over his head with annoyance. This is what he gets for choosing a more interesting case, and really, what could be more interesting then diagnosing a patient without leaving a paper trail?

"Luckily, violence is not the last resort. Extortion is. So go ahead," he murmured, motioning towards the door.

"Extort her." The fellows looked at him skeptically before one slowly approached the door.

"If you don't open this door we're gonna break it down." House just smirked, leaning in to mumble,

"Clever. Appeal to her deep concern for hospital property. Let's see how that works." The man rolled his eyes, trying again with,

"If you don't open this door, you're going to die." The patient, however, just shouted back a loud 'go away', repositioning herself against the door. House felt the edge of his lip lift a bit at the idiocy of it all, mumbling,

"You seem to be getting to her." The fellow sighed angrily, turning to House.

"She doesn't care if she dies." House raised an eyebrow curiously, mumbling,

"You think she wants to die?" The man shook his head a bit, saying,

"No, but I think she only wants to live under certain circumstances." This seemed to spark an idea as the fellow leaned towards the door, shouting,

"Open up or I blab your secret to everyone." The patient just scoffed, shouting back,

"You don't know anything!" House, finally getting tired of the game, joined in with a cheery,

"I do."

Someone else may have said something after that, though the words would have certainly fallen on deaf ears, as House's attention was no longer on the patient's shenanigans, but on the hospital entrance.

He approached the edge of the balcony quickly, peering down into the crowd like a hawk. There was nothing too spectacular down there, just random nurses and patients milling about. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. His eyes weren't on them, however.
They were on her.

A hauntingly familiar figure had just shoved her way hurriedly into the hospital, a tattered baseball cap and bug-like sunglasses engulfing her face and hiding all features. Even with that, though, he could sense it. He could sense the familiarity of her.
He could see it in the way she walked, the way she marched down the hallway as though she'd done so hundreds of times before.

He could see it in the familiar tip of her nose, in the way she gently chewed on her bottom lip, her teeth just barely grazing the skin.

He felt a lump forming in his throat as he watched her retreating figure disappear from view, her hips swaying unconsciously.

It was Cameron.

He shook his head almost immediately after the thought entered his mind, smothering it beneath his beloved logic and reason.
Cameron was dead.

She had been for five years now, despite what his daily alcohol-induced hallucinations told him. He knew he shouldn't let that glimmer of hope enter his mind, especially not now. I mean really, that girl was clearly not Cameron. She was blonde, for goodness sakes, and even that supposedly familiar figure seemed different. The woman he'd seen was fuller, with more definitive feminine curves. Close, but not quite her. It had just been a trick of the eye.

Shaking his head, he turned back to his fellows to find they had managed to coerce the patient from the room. He sighed, heading back to them.

It had definitely all been a trick of the eye.

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Alison rushed quickly towards the Emergency Room's front desk, feeling an incredible twinge of nostalgia as she passed easily through the grounds. So far she had managed to go undetected and she saw, with some sadness, that she did not recognize the majority of the nurses. Things were clearly not the same.

As she approached the desk, she silently begged that the attending nurse be someone new, as well. Her silent plea was answered, luckily, as she found her way to a plump and disturbingly cheerful woman. The woman's merry smile, however, dimmed as she caught sight of Alison and gave her a quick once-over, clearly misinterpreting the visible bruises and busted lip. Alison felt her stomach tighten, and she found herself hoping the woman wouldn't ask her if she'd been raped.

Tugging her sleeves down over her wrists subconsciously, Alison quickly murmured,

"Hi, um. I was in the pile up earlier today and my son was taken to this hospital. I'm trying to find him." Her words came out in such a fast, awkward stream that she feared for an instant that the woman wouldn't understand, but she just smiled again and nodded, practically shouting in an overtly joyful voice,

"Of course! Could you describe your son?"

The nurse proceeded to check the hospitals records and base them on Alison's description of Jayden, quickly finding the unidentified boy that matched him.

After a quick instruction as to where she could find him (not that Alison needed any help navigating), she was once more off on her search for her missing baby.

The nurse watched her leave with a perceptive eye before slowly picking up the phone and dialing.

"Hello, Dr. Cuddy? Yes well, that woman you… yes, Alison Carter… well she just came here asking for her son…"

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Sailing easily through the familiar hallway, Alison soon found herself outside the hospital room the lady had said was Jayden's. She hesitated for a moment, not willing to glance in to see just yet. What if it wasn't Jayden? She didn't think she could handle it if it wasn't.

Hesitating for only a moment longer, Alison pushed her way close enough to see in the window and she couldn't help but let out a loud squeal at the sight of the tiny body bundled up on the hospital bed. She stared for a moment as waves of relief washed over her as her world slowly fell back into place. Finally, everything was right again.

"Mommy?" Snapping back to reality, she tore into the room and to his side, quickly cradling his head in her arms.

"Yes, baby. I'm here." Her voice was shaking as she clung to him, smoothing his hair back and placing gentle kisses on his forehead. She cringed when she noticed his bruised cheek and his cut up arms. He was hurt, and it was her fault. She hadn't been focused on the road; she'd gotten too caught up in things. Her mistake had almost cost her the most important thing in the world.

"Uh, so are you the mother?" a voice chimed suddenly from behind her and Alison shot her head up to the door. She felt another rush of relief, however, when she didn't recognize the woman standing at the entrance.

"Y-Yes, hello. I'm Alison Carter," she stuttered quickly, offering the woman an awkward half-wave that made her feel ridiculous. The woman gave a small smile, her unusual eyes twinkling a bit.

"Finally. I was starting to get worried when no one came to claim him." She moved over to check his vitals, silently examining his chart. Alison sat in silence for a moment, absently stroking Jayden's hair, before finally murmuring,

"Are you his doctor?" The woman smiled at her again, a small, infectious smile that made Alison feel a slight tug at her lips.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm Doctor Hadley. I'm doing my boss's clinic duty right now, so I'll be your son's doctor until he's discharged." Alison instantly zeroed in on what she said and she found her breathing stop short. It sounded disturbingly familiar.

"House," she whispered accidentally, the name slipping from her tongue before she even realized it. She had hoped that it was quiet enough not to be heard, but then she saw the look of surprise Dr. Hadley gave her.

"Yeah. Do you know him?" And then, much to Alison's complete dread, the younger doctor's eyes left her face to study Jayden.

"Know who?" Alison said far too quickly, unable to do anything to stop that searching gaze the doctor was giving her son. She knew the doctor was figuring it out, was seeing the similarities. Those deep blue eyes, the hair. Thankfully Jayden wasn't speaking, because it only took a few words from him to know exactly who his father is.

And then suddenly that look of curious confusion stopped, as though it had finally clicked, and a knowing expression crossed the doctor's face.

"Nevermind," Hadley said with the smallest of smirks and Alison just knew that she knew.

"So how long do you think we're going to be here?" Alison said, again too quickly. Hadley slowly brought herself back into doctor mode.

"He didn't get too beat up in the accident, but we'd like to keep him here for observations overnight just to be sure. He can leave tomorrow." Alison let out another sigh of relief before nodding her head, mumbling a soft 'thank you'. Hadley gave her a curt nod before turning and heading out the door. Alison turned back to Jayden, who had managed to fall asleep now that he was once more in the arms of his mother. She felt another smile creeping up as she closed her eyes, gently rocking and humming some old nursery rhyme.

"Dr. Hadley," a voice carried into the room from out in the hall.

Alison's eyes shot open.
She knew that voice.

"Dr. Cuddy," the younger woman greeted neutrally, and Alison pulled herself up suddenly, almost jerking Jayden awake in the process. Carefully laying him back on the bed, she snuck over to the glass sliding door, carefully peering around the corner to see the two doctors chatting.

Alison stared at the familiar back of the Dean of Medicine, who was turned away as she spoke to Hadley, who was facing Jayden's room. Alison cringed back into the hospital room when she saw Hadley's eyes shift slightly towards her, sending her a curious raised eyebrow. Alison just looked at her desperately.

"So what's up?" Dr Hadley chirped in suddenly, trying to decipher the mortified looks Alison was giving Cuddy.

"I'm here looking for a certain person of interest," Cuddy continued hesitantly, oblivious to the silent exchange, but aware that something was off. "A woman named Alison Carter." Alison's heart continued racing as she saw the look of recognition cross Hadley's face.

"Really…," she murmured, her voice still neutral. Alison was terrified. She had no idea what this unknown doctor was going to do, but she knew that if Cuddy saw her it would all be over.

Realizing she was running on borrowed time, Alison quickly began creeping out into the hallway. She glanced behind her only to see Dr. Cuddy start to turn around, dangerously close to seeing her. That is, of course, until Dr. Hadley grabbed her arm with a sudden,

"Wait!" resulting in a shocked look from Cuddy and a look of eternal thanks on Alison's. Watching Alison quietly disappear around the corner and out of sight, Dr Hadley barely noticed the incredulous look on the Dean's face as she peeled her hand from her arm.

"What else, Dr. Hadley?" she said with barely concealed annoyance. Hadley just smirked slightly, mumbling,

"Oh, nothing. It's not important." And she turned then to walk down the hallway, ignoring the questioning stares of her boss's boss. She listened to the sharp clicks of heels as the Dean made her way to the room only to find it was empty besides the single tiny occupant.

She wasn't sure why she did it. For all she knew, that woman could have been some recently escaped psychotic serial killer. It had just been a split second decision, really, but when she heard the exasperated sigh from Dr Cuddy, Hadley couldn't help but smile.

She just hoped she wouldn't regret this later.

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A/N: See if you recognize what episode I stole this chapter from (;

So this is a bit longer than my past ones, I am proud to say. I took a four hour road trip the other day and had nothing to do but write, so I came up with a lot of stuff for this story!

And haha even in my Hameron story I throw in some Cadley interactions :P

And though I never use disclaimers because I automatically assume you guys are smart enough to know I don't own House, I'm going to go ahead and say the © for a good bit of the dialogue goes to the owners of the show House, M.D.